Inaccuracy in reporting astronomy and science Options

[Juramike]

"Oh," she replies, "can't they [Mars] send us probes, then?"

Obviously she's thinking "sample return". Excellent!
Keep the momentum building!

[djellison]

That's in the 'They have the internet on computers now?' ballpark of utter subject-unawareness.

[nprev]

That almost defies belief. You really have to wonder just what kind of a mental picture of the Universe such people have...

[edstrick]

You SURE she's not the same as the blond big-wigged martian lady from MARS ATTACKS! ?

ack! ack-AkAk!

Ach-thbt! <no.. that's Bill-the-Cat>

[Stu]

Seen in a discount bookstore recently...

( People of a nervous disposition might want to sit down before looking at this picture... )



Yes, you did read that correctly...

[Juramike]

Yes, you did read that correctly...

Ummm. OK.

Maybe the directions are to use the telescope to view the Horoscope section of the local newspaper held upside down 100 feet away.
And BTW, you could probably also use the telescope to look at the moon and stars and stuff like that....

[nprev]

I don't know whether to laugh or cry. The Oxford University association is particularly poignant.

If anyone can contact Stephen Hawking, send this along; he'll rip someone at Oxford a new one.

[Stu]

The charitable Stu thinks "Printing error, crept through quality control, should have been spotted but wasn't..."

The world weary Stu thinks "IDIOTS!!!!!!!!!" (slap slap slap!!!)

[nprev]

Uh, gotta go with 'world-weary' here, big guy; this is just plain unforgiveable.

I mean, seriously: this is just beyond belief, and I'm certain that the Oxford astronomy department faculty will absolutely flip out if they see this! Somebody's head is gonna roll like a bowling ball.

[dvandorn]

And here's another example of what this thread is about:

I'm sitting here watching "Faces of Earth" on the Science Channel, a geologic history of the planet, and they've gotten around to mentioning the K-T impact. The exact line they used was "Something, likely an asteroid from space, hit the Earth."

No kidding! Gee, and here I was always under the assumption it was an asteroid from New Jersey... but hey, if they say it was from space, who am I to argue?

*D'OH!*

-the other Doug

[nprev]

No...despite this error, be afraid of New Jersey, be very afraid! They're gonna pour "kawfee" all over the planet, and convert it all into diners just off the Turnpike!

At night, the Sopranos come...

[Stu]

I showed the "astrology telescope" pic at my astronomical society meeting last night, and I swear several people almost fell off their chairs laughing... or was it crying? Hmm, not sure...!

... actually, that's a VERY clumsy way of passing on my thanks to Doug for coming up to talk to us all at that meeting here in Kendal last night. It was a superb evening, Doug's talk was brilliant, no other way of describing it, and he really impressed everyone there. There's a full report on the meeting on my blog here if anyone wants a look.

Thanks Doug!

[ElkGroveDan]

Actually Stu we want to hear the post-event pub crawling report.

[Stu]

Afraid there was no "crawl" to report, not with some of us at work at 7am next morning and Doug on an early train home again... just a quiet (well, 'quiet' apart from the ignorant SOB who was swearing loudly at the bar, trying to prove how hard he was...) pint in an old-fashioned pub around the corner, setting the world (well, ESA!) to rights while the pub darts team got soundly thrashed in the room next door...

[Gladstoner]

Ah, department store telescopes. I remember those.

"Have fun exploring the wonders of astrology" is a bone-headed error.... (Is it kosher to correct the astrology thing in polite company?)

"Looks at star real good" would be bad English.... (This seems to be more common with obscure computer component manuals.)

"700x power!" is blatant dishonesty, and unfortunately the most common.... (If you squint just right, you can see Elvis in the dust and diffraction patterns.)